Deirdre M. Daly, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, today announced that DANIELLE FAUX, 46, of Weston, has been charged in a 54-count superseding indictment with federal health care fraud and income tax fraud offenses. The superseding indictment was returned by a grand jury in Bridgeport on April 16, 2014, and FAUX appeared today before U.S. Magistrate Judge Holly B. Fitzsimmons in Bridgeport and entered a plea of not guilty to the charges.

According to the superseding indictment, FAUX owned and operated Danielle Faux PT, LLC, a physical therapy clinic located at 27 Lois Street in Norwalk, and was a part owner of Achieve Rehab and Fitness, a gym located at the same address in Norwalk. The indictment alleges that FAUX engaged in a scheme to defraud Medicare, Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield, and Aetna by referring some of her patients for personal training sessions at Achieve Rehab and Fitness and then billing the sessions as if they were physical therapy procedures. The indictment also alleges that FAUX created and altered patient records when Medicare audited her practice in August 2009, and that she made false statements on her 2008, 2009, and 2010 federal income tax returns.

FAUX was arrested on February 24, 2014, based on an indictment charging her with 46 counts of health care fraud and one count of obstruction of a federal audit. The superseding indictment includes four additional counts of health care fraud and three counts of making a false statement on a federal income tax return.

If convicted, FAUX faces a maximum term of imprisonment of 10 years and a fine of up to $250,000 on each of the health care fraud counts, a maximum term of imprisonment of five years and a fine of $250,000 on the obstruction count, and a maximum term of three years and a fine of $100,000 on each of the tax counts.

The case has been assigned to Senior U.S. District Judge Warren W. Eginton in Bridgeport, who has scheduled trial for October.

FAUX is released on a $50,000 bond.

U.S. Attorney Daly stressed that an indictment is not evidence of guilt. Charges are only allegations, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

This matter is being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Office of the Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney David J. Sheldon.